07/01, 4:15pm
Operators delay Tru2Way
While today, July 1st, was the agreed-upon deadline between cable operators and consumer electronics companies to support the new Tru2Way interactive digital cable standard, it's now learned today that none of the cable operators will meet or come close to this date. The new standard is due to replace CableCARD, and does not require a standalone set-top box, instead being integrated into devices such as TVs, DVD or Blu-ray players from existing electronics manufacturers. While cable companies such as Comcast, Time Warner and Cox Communications will not have the necessary support for the interactive service, execs from Samsung and Panasonic said good-faith effort has been made to deliver on the promises.
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04/08, 2:50pm
Cox Cell App Store
Cox Communications' upcoming cellular network may have an app store not unlike Apple's for the iPhone, the cable provider's wireless VP Stephen Bye said yesterday. He cautions that nothing is definitive but tells the Wall Street Journal that Cox is considering a central store for software to avoid a "comparative disadvantage" versus the iPhone and other phones and networks with simple, recognizable locations for software. Unofficially, the company is understood to already be tapping mPortal to develop such a store.
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03/25, 4:15pm
Comcast, Cox partner RIAA
Following today's earlier news of AT&T issuing notices to subscribers on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America who are allegedly involved in illegal file sharing, Comcast and Cox have announced they too are informing Internet users of any potential illegal activities. At the same Leadership Music Digital Summit where AT&T broke its news, Comcast senior VP Joe Waz said the provider has issued two million notices to its clients. Sources at the event said provider Cox is also actively partnering with RIAA on informing and discouraging its customers of their illegal activities.
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02/19, 4:25pm
Cox wireless plans
Cox Communications is nudging ever closer to its plans of launching a 3G, 700MHz wireless voice network in the US by announcing it is hiring two new executives. Cox Wireless VP at Cox Stephen Bye announced on Wednesday that the company has appointed Raj Beri as VP of wireless product operations while Dan Dickie is the new executive director of wireless product development.
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01/28, 10:55am
Cox Throttling Traffic
Cable Internet provider Cox today said it would start trialing a new congestion management scheme on its network that it hopes will manage the network. The test, beginning for Arkansas and Kansas users on February 9th, will prioritize "time-sensitive" data such as games, streaming, VoIP and VPNs over less immediately critical traffic, including uploads, peer-to-peer file sharing and newsgroups. The system only kicks in when the local network is particularly congested and the more critical traffic is at risk of failing, Cox says.
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12/24, 12:05pm
Lafayette 50Mbps Fiber
Lafayette, Louisiana yesterday revealed that it will soon become one of the first significant US cities to deploy a municipality-run fiber optic Internet connection. Lafayette Utilities System plans to launch the service with a combination of Internet, phone and TV services and will offer them either as part of bundles or as individual options. Internet service tops out as high as 50Mbps both downstream and upstream and will offer more bandwidth still for connections between users on the same network, doubling to 100Mbps.
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10/27, 11:15am
Cox Cell Service in 2009
Cox Communications on Monday said it would launch its own cellular service in 2009 that would make it one of the first new national providers in the US in years. The format of the expansion hasn't been made public but will see Cox offer both voice and data service on its network that includes tight integration between phones and the company's cable service.
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08/01, 12:50pm
FCC Rules on Comcast
The Federal Communications Commission today formally ruled that Comcast's traffic throttling practices were illegal, setting a precedent for US Internet providers. The decision acts on a recent report of the FCC's plans and requires that the the cable company stop the filtering it has used so far, which uses a Sandvine program that automatically breaks the connection between Comcast users and others running BitTorrent clients and certain peer-to-peer software. The ruling also requires that Comcast disclose how it performs any future throttling, which the provider already plans to do but in a more general form.
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07/28, 3:00pm
LG tru2way US Deal
LG on Monday said it has struck deals with US cable providers to get support for tru2way, the new two-directional HD video standard. A memorandum of understanding between LG and six US cable providers should see the latter offer support for tru2way on their networks, letting HDTVs from LG and other set makers supply HDTV with interactive options such as video on demand or more advanced programming guides without needing a separate device.
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07/11, 6:45am
FCC to Punish Comcast
Federal Communications Commission chair Kevin Martin on Thursday said he would advise his organization to punish Comcast for violating existing net neutrality guidelines with its traffic throttling practiced against BitTorrent and certain peer-to-peer services. The government official has explained to the press that Comcast's method, which effectively severed some connections between Comcast users and others running the same software, has been 'arbitrary;' every user has been throttled regardless of their actual impact to the cable provider's network, Martin says.
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05/15, 1:00pm
Cox also blocking torrents
Comcast is not the only company guilty of sabotaging BitTorrent traffic, the Associated Press reports. While that company has taken the brunt of criticism for potentially violating the FCC's net neutrality policy, the AP says it has obtained the results of a worldwide study of 8,175 Internet users, which found that only three companies were all but certainly blocking connections: Comcast, Singapore's StarHub, and Cox Communications. In the case of the last, 82 out of 151 subscribers had their transfers blocked.
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05/05, 10:10am
Cox 700MHz Network
Wins by Cox Communications during the recent 700MHz auction will let the company set up its own wireless data network, Cable Digital News says. The cable provider successfully obtained licenses in the frequency range that essentially overlap its existing markets, allowing it to switch on a wide-area broadband service that can handle all of its customers. The service is most likely to be based on 700MHz WiMAX and operate on platform-agnostic level that doesn't require locked devices.
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03/20, 3:20pm
Verizon 700MHz Wins
Verizon was the winner of the nationwide license for the crucial 700MHz wireless auction as well as most regional licenses, the FCC has revealed. An initial list of winners shows the telecoms giant to have successfully won both the national license as well as 11 out of 12 of the local licenses available for the "C" block that is likely to be used for wireless data. The licenses supply the company with coverage across all of the US and would allow it to launch any future service with few gaps in its network. Only AT&T Mobility has managed to win a major regional "C" block bid for coverage in the Mississippi Valley, according to government documents.
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12/19, 11:30am
Paul Allen 700MHz Bid
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is one of those already confirmed as bidding in the upcoming FCC auction for the 700MHz wireless band, according to the list of accepted applicants (PDF). The former executive is using a proxy firm known as Vulcan Spectrum in an attempt to capture a slice of the soon to be free wireless spectrum, which has been eagerly sought after by telecom providers for its potential with long-range Internet and similar data. Neither Allen nor Vulcan has revealed the reasons behind the bid, though Allen is also a significant stakeholder in cable provider Charter.
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12/04, 10:55am
Cox 700MHz Wireless
In a partly unexpected move Cox Communications today revealed that it intends to bid in the FCC's upcoming auction for the 700MHz band, becoming the first company outside of Google confirmed as making an attempt at the valuable wireless frequency. The announcement will have the company place at least $4.6 billion for a portion of the network and is geared towards improving the "convergence and mobility" of Cox's services, according to the company. The phrasing points to Cox establishing a wireless network of its own, though whether this will include calling or just data is uncertain. Cox is best known for its cable Internet and TV services and may be seeking to offer a third business.Cox
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